By Jacob Robinson, The Londoner
For three straight years, Glencoe’s Mark Johnson was one win away from an International Softball Congress World Title. And three times in a row – from 2010-2012 – the left fielder was forced to watch the juggernaut Jarvis Travelers dash his chance at a championship.
The most recent of those disappointments came when the upstart Hill United Chiefs from Six Nations dropped a heart breaker to their rivals in extra innings.
Johnson and the Chiefs would not be denied in 2013.
On Aug. 17 in Moline, Illinois Hill United rode a virtuoso performance from Aussie pitcher Adam Folkard to win a thrilling 1-0, 10 inning victory over the New York Gremlins, earning their first world championship.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m a little bit zombie-like today at work,” Johnson said from his office in Hagersville on Monday. “But it was a pretty special feeling, winning with that group was awesome.”
Johnson was part of Team Canada’s championship roster at the 2012 Pan Am Championships in Columbia and has now added the most cherished prize in the game to his resume, following in the footsteps of another Southwestern Ontario great, Ryan Wolfe.
“Watching guys like Wolfey play growing up and now being on that stage and getting a chance to win, it’s special,” said Johnson, who earned First Team All World honours. “I had a lot of people congratulating me on being First Team All World. To be honest, I haven’t even thought about that because all I keep thinking about is, we won.”
“It’s something that we’ve been dreaming about.”
After breezing through the bracket with five straight wins – including triumphs over both Jarvis and New York – during the week, Folkard took to the pitchers circle and engaged in an epic battle with Gremlins Kiwi fireballer Andrew Kirkpatrick for all the marbles.
Folkard had already thrown a perfect game against New York during the tournament, and was just as strong in the final. Both teams registered just six hits into the tenth, when Chiefs pinch runner and Appin native Jamie Shields narrowly avoided the tag at home courtesy a sac fly off the bat of Jeff Ellsworth.
Folkard finished with a record 18 and two third scoreless innings, erasing bad memories from the past two ISC events during which the lanky righthander had been plagued by injury.
“Adam Folkard put on one of the best performances at an ISC World Tournament,” Johnson said, adding that facing strong opponents mid-week prepared the club for a grueling final.
“We faced good pitchers all along and I think the process of going through everything and having those types of opponents helped us in the end.”
A star-studded lineup filled with national team stars, many of the Chiefs received praise in the wake of their recent win – and an American Softball Association title that came prior to the World Tournament. Quietly the small town kid from Glencoe – a former Gremlin and Kitchener Hallman Twin, took his place among the game’s elite.
“Mark was a guy that all he needed was the chance,” said Chiefs representative Bryan Porter. “He has played with other teams prior to being with us and came off the bench. He had been a great player but he was never really given that opportunity to start and be an everyday player and show what he could do. We were able to give him that opportunity and he’s just ran with it and never looked back. Second team (all star) last year, first team this year and I don’t see anything but upside from him for many years to come.”